No really, I'm okay. I'm also a great liar.

i discover more than one person in the world can be named annabelle

Monday dawns bright and pleasant. I throw on a soft purple sweatshirt and twist my hair up in a sloppy bun with a spare pen.

I don't think much of the day, as nothing too interesting happens. I get lots of compliments on my hair, which I'm happy about.

As soon as my penultimate class ends, I head down three flights of stairs and make my relaxed way to the arts building. I feel calmer as I enter the familiar room -- I'm really glad that I decided to take writing. It's an incredibly relaxing class, and really helpful and constructive. The teacher is great too -- last year I had a B plus for my semester grade and asked him if he could bump it up to an A, and he did. He lets us play music in his class and everything.

I've arrived a bit early, so I slide in my earbuds and drown out the world.

When I see Professor Clark stand up before his class, he motions to someone next to me, who apparently is new. I feel their eyes on me and feel the slightest bit self-conscious.

I don't pay much attention -- I'll get to know the new person soon enough.

Professor Clark assigns us something -- I'm not really listening. He knows this, too -- I've taken his class for enough time for him to get used to me playing music with everything.

This is why he's my favorite teacher. Along with the fact that he lets me eat lunch in his room when the cafeteria is too loud.

So when he sits back down at his desk and a dull hum of conversation fills the room, I finally get a look at the new person beside me.

My lips part in surprise. She is absolutely beautiful.

She's got rich sepia skin dotted with freckles across her cheeks and cute nose and full lips shyly showing off a smile brighter than my future.

She has heavy eyebrows and thick lashes framing luscious, pensive eyes. They move carefully around their surroundings as if taking in every little thing about the room and the people in it.

I'm honored to have them have rested on me, even if only for a fleeting second.

Her hair is a wild curly mess, even tied back, all jet black and in her face. Despite her hair being beautiful, I'm kind of annoyed with it for obscuring her eyes.

She's wearing a soft white shirt with a pink skirt, and my goodness, I've never seen someone look so warm.

Have you ever met someone you just really want to hug? That's this girl right next to me.

I want to slap myself. I've been staring for probably a minute now, and she's probably super weirded out by now.

But for some miraculous reason, she's not. She leans over to my desk and taps lightly on my shoulder.

"Hi," she says, her voice elegant and soothing. "I'm Annabelle." She reaches her hand out, and I shake it. At the name, my mind automatically grows excited.

She did say she was settling into a new college this weekend, my brain reasoned. But it was so unrealistic, and I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I pushed them to the back of my head. She seemed lovely, and who knows? Maybe an actual relationship could happen, and I could stop wishing after a famous blogger who doesn't exist.

"Hazel," I reply.

"Wanna be my partner?" My eyes widen in confusion.

"For what? Did Professor Clark assign us a project?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What's our assignment?"

"We're supposed to find a partner -- although I think you guessed that -- and write together."

"Ooh!" I exclaim, my eyes growing wider in excitement. "What should we write? Does it have to be anything specific?"

"No actually, Professor Clark just said get with a partner and write something."

"Yes! What do you like to write?" I ask.

"Well," she hesitates. "I write anything, basically. Prose is probably my best, though. But we can do whatever."

"Sounds good," I reply. "Prose is my best as well." At this, Annabelle lets out a relieved smile and nods.

"So, what should it be about?"

Neither of us have any ideas off the top of our heads, so we just start writing and brainstorming.

As we talk, I catch Professor Clark smiling at the two of us. He looks really excited for some reason, but I just shake it off and continue talking to Annabelle.

Which isn't hard -- she's so sweet and funny, and she acts kind of shy but the way her eyes light up when I mention something she likes tells me she's not shy at all.